PUTRAJAYA: All ministries, government departments and agencies need to ensure that they have adequate budget before taking in interns and implement the RM900 monthly allowance as agreed by the government.
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the Finance Ministry will issue an official standard on the matter soon.
“Action should be taken against agencies failing to abide by the allowance rate. Ministers need to ensure that the rate is followed,” he said after launching the Young Heroes E-entrepreneur programme at his ministry today.
On Thursday, Syed Saddiq announced that the allowance for youths undergoing practical training in ministries and government agencies and departments would be increased from RM300 to RM900 per month.
This was decided by the Special Cabinet Committee on Youths.
Syed Saddiq said he received information that even when the RM300 allowance was in force, several ministries did not implement it.
He said he was informed that there were ministries that took in up to 300 practical students but only paid 50 of them while the rest were unpaid.
Syed Saddiq said internship allowance in the government sector should be increased as RM300 was not enough especially if the intern was from a B40 (lower income) family from Sabah and Sarawak who had to do practical training in Kuala Lumpur. - Bernama